Leave your popcorn in the cupboard.

Quatto_the_Prophet

DAHMER                                               

   I'm not going to waste time weeding through morals or


questioning what this film should have been or what it failed to

address. I'm not going to apologize for recommending a film that

severs itself from shallow entertainment instead manifesting itself

in the realm of art. We all know the case of Jeffery Dahmer; none of

us can imagine the horrors his victims hopelessly resisted or the

suffering the victims' families are still living trough. The American

public, after watching clips of Dahmer's trial on television, has

unanimously recognized that the man committed sick cannibalistic

acts of debauchery, and we all condemn those acts. With that said,

I can now focus on the film and what it offers.

   Dahmer is not a documentary; it is an intimate look at the person

behind the private made public headlines. It is based on actual

events dating back to his teenage years growing up in the

confusion of his parents' separation to his years as a seasoned

serial killer. It is a study of a man dealing with common issues,

and it is a modest revelation of a serial killer's routines and

fixations. Although the film is not excessively graphic, there are a

few instances where the grotesque is implied, leaving your

imagination freedom to paint a more terrifying image.

   The film risks portraying Jeffery Dahmer as a human being.

Essentially that's what he really was; the myth, the legend of

Jeffery Dahmer only exists in the media and in the American

consciousness. This film vaguely brings light to circumstances

that arguably aid the creation of a madman; it does not attempt to

defend the man, only to create a believable reality that is a man.

Watching this film, you cannot help but to sympathize with Jeffery

Dahmer, he is the central character and the only character that is

investigated on an intimate level. A pain of misfortune surrounds

Dahmer; perhaps if he had grown up in a different region, or if

different people had influenced him, maybe his hands would not

have been so bloodied.

   There is a reality in this film that would not have been achieved

through Hollywood; this film would not have been allowed in

Hollywood. Dahmer does not follow a predictable chain of

events-–there is no simplified arch of conflict and resolution. The

filmmakers offer a snapshot into Jeffery Dahmer's life. They do not

attempt to preach against the rape and murder of Dahmer's

victims or his twisted lifestyle; nor do they defend it. Such

judgement would have made this film part of the facile Hollywood

template. This movie is worth watching because it confronts real

issues of abandonment, seclusion, obsession, sexuality, and the

consequence of sick curiosity. Leave your popcorn in the

cupboard.

-Nathan Danilowicz

score /10

Quatto_the_Prophet 25 September 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0811786/